Science and Technology (old posts, page 216)

Oracle Linux 10 released

Version 10 of the Oracle Linux distribution has been released.

Oracle Linux 10 is now generally available for 64-bit Intel and AMD (x86_64) and 64-bit Arm (aarch64) platforms. Oracle Linux 10 delivers robust security and exceptional performance for business agility and demanding workloads at cloud scale. Key features include modernized cryptographic capabilities, advancements in developer tooling, and innovations for resilient infrastructure.

Six arrested at protest of Palantir, tech company building deportation software for Trump admin

Six of demonstrators were arrested at protest against the company’s work for Ice to help deport people from the US

Six protestors who demonstrated in front of the New York City offices of Palantir Technologies were arrested on Thursday morning. The demonstrators had gathered to bring attention to the controversial firm and the work it does to power the deportation of immigrants from the US.

The protestors stood in front of the Palantir offices on Manhattan’s Avenue of the Americas, linking arms to block entrance into the building and forcing several people attempting to enter to shove past them. At one point, several demonstrators entered the lobby of the building holding up signs that read “Palantir powers ICE”, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Continue reading...

Group of high-profile authors sue Microsoft over use of their books in AI training

Writers alleged that company used nearly 200,000 pirated books to train its Megatron artificial intelligence

A group of authors has accused Microsoft of using nearly 200,000 pirated books to create an artificial intelligence model, the latest allegation in the long legal fight over copyrighted works between creative professionals and technology companies.

Kai Bird, Jia Tolentino, Daniel Okrent and several others alleged that Microsoft used pirated digital versions of their books to teach its Megatron AI to respond to human prompts. Their lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on Tuesday, is one of several high-stakes cases brought by authors, news outlets and other copyright holders against tech companies including Meta Platforms, Anthropic and Microsoft-backed OpenAI over alleged misuse of their material in AI training.

Continue reading...

Coccinelle for Rust progress report (Collabora blog)

Over on the Collabora blog, Tathagata Roy has an update on the progress of targeting the Coccinelle tool for matching and transforming source code to Rust. The Coccinelle for Rust project, which we covered in a 2024 talk by Roy at Kangrejos, is adding the ability to transform Rust programs and the goal is "to bring Coccinelle For Rust at par with Coccinelle For C in terms of basic functionalities". There is still work to be done to get there, but progress is being made in various areas.
Computational Tree Logic (CTL) is the heart of Coccinelle, which takes semantic patches and generalizes them over Rust files. Prior to using this engine, CfR used an ad-hoc method for matching patterns of code. This engine is the same as the one used for Coccinelle for C, with a few minor changes. Most of the changes were idiomatic but to the same effect. More information on the engine and its language (CTL-VW) can be found in the POPL Paper. With a standard engine, each step of the matching process can be logged, allowing us to learn and reuse the same design patterns from Coccinelle for C, including critical test cases.

RFK Jr’s vaccine panel recommends new RSV treatment for infants

Move comes after health secretary replaced advisory board with ideological allies and several vaccine skeptics

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel recommended a new treatment to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants.

The treatment, a new monoclonal antibody called clesrovimab, which will be sold under the brand name Enflonsia by Merck, was recommended by the powerful committee after being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) roughly two weeks ago.

Continue reading...